Today I went to Tap Mun Island, Hong Kong. OK, If you have no idea where it is, I'm going to give you a piece of info about it (let's ask Grandpa Google)!! Grass Island (Chinese: 塔門) or Tap Mun is an island in Hong Kong, located in the northeastern part of the territory. Its area is 1.69 km².[1] Administratively, it is part of the Tai Po District. There are about 100 people living on the island. It is located in the northeastern part of the Hong Kong territory, between Mirs Bay and the North Channel. It lies north of the Sai Kung East Country Park on the Sai Kung Peninsula. To the east is Kung Chau, to the south is the South Channel, to the west is Wan Tsai and to the southwest is Long Harbour.
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| Grass Island, Hong Kong |
I wanted to hike to Lantau Peak at first, because I've checked the weather and today would be a great day to watch the sunrise, as it'd be a sunny day, they said. The thought of watching sunrise was suddenly running through my mind in Saturday evening. Fortunately, I've bought two big bottles of water in the morning (1.5 lt each bottle) I planned to go out at midnight to catch the last train to Tung Chung. I had it twice, night hike. First, with my boyfriend (at that time) but we failed, as there was a heavy rain at 4 a.m. so we didn't reach the Peak. And the second, I hiked alone to the Lantau Peak and that was extremely cool! I didn't see the full sunrise because I left the Peak when it was dawn, I just couldn't stay longer. There was really cold, and I was all wet of sweats, hahaha and even worse, I didn't bring any jackets with me! But I could still seeing the sunrise, although wasn't from the peak. So, the urge of watching the full version of it, haunted me so bad at that evening. I was so excited yet a little bit nervous as I needed to sneak out if I wanted to do that journey. I forgot about the bus that I took from the last hike, so I searched for it on the internet, but I couldn't find it, even until 11 p.m. I suddenly remembered that I also broke my flashlight on that hike. Too tired of searching without getting any results, I fell asleep! So bleurgghh! I know, yeah yeah,, and I didn't even set my alarm,,ckckcckk! So, yeah, guess what? You're right, I woke up too late! Dang! :p It was about 7.30 a.m. when I opened my eyes. Guten morgen, welt!!!
I didn't blame myself for waking up too late. So I changed the destination, searching for a while about 10 best trails in HK and I ended up choosing Tap Mun Island. Because the review was way too good! Also one of my friends, she recommended me to visit it long time before I got this chance, so I always wanted to go there. I searched again about how to go there, but because I needed to get back at 3 p.m. so I chose the earliest and the fastest way to go there. My choice was going by red minibus from Mongkok. Its stop is on Dundas Street, right in front of the garbage disposal. It's way closer if you take the MTR to Yau Matei exit A2, you just need two walk 2 minutes and you will reach the minibus stop. Because I wanted to know exactly how long would I take from Mongkok to Saikung by red minibus, I kept my eye on my watch, lol! A little bit too much though, for the other passengers. The minibus left Dundas Street at 8.27 a.m. OK, let's just make it 8.30 a.m, deal?
8.58 a.m. we reached Saikung, yayy! You can take both 94 or 96R big buses from Saikung to Wong Shek Pier. I waited for the first bus for my departure, and I finally took 94 after 15 minutes waiting. Yup, it was 9.15 a.m. at that moment we were leaving Saikung. I couldn't remember exactly how long was it take, but I think it was around 45-50 minutes, as I got off few minutes to ten. The information I got from the internet, also the boat timetable there, they both have the same schedule, so I thought I need to wait until 10.35 a.m. to get on the boat. But I was wrong, there were so many small boats going to Tap Mun Island. That's good, so just don't worry about not getting or missing your boat :p The fee was HK$ 20 and it was pretty fast. It could take approximately 18 people. It took us only 10 minutes to reach Tap Mun. I was to be honest a little bit surprised, hahaha,,but that was good!
I started hiking at 10.30 a.m. and I had no idea that it'd be so crowded there, goshhhh!I even needed to walked really slow because there was a group of tourists in front of me, so I just joined them. There was nothing special during the hike, was a very easy trail to walk, If I could rate, I'd give one star of five! It's actually good for a family hike, especially family with kids. Ahhh,,, and yeahh I saw so many families bringing their kids to hike and camping there. Again, there was too crowded! I thought it'd be a long walk, at least two hours was needed. But I was wrong, without even realising it, I reached the starting point again, hahahah! I took some pictures and walked to the balanced rock. I didn't notice the rock, I mean rocks were everywhere there, so who cares about the balanced or equilibrium rocks, except for anti-gravitation rock for sure! :p But then I saw the lower part of the hill, and I instinctively knew which one was the balanced rock, that was the biggest rock on the beach.
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| My starting point! ;) |
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| He looked so cool! |
When my eyes accidentally caught a figure of cattle, I happily ran to their direction, ignoring the people I passed by. I came closer to them and yeah, what else? I was enthusiastically taking pictures of them. I sat on the bench and two of those cattle were coming to me, even one of them was hungrily licking my fingers, awwww!! When I was about to leave, the cutest cow was standing so close to me, with his nostrils were widely open, he looked like smiling to the camera saying "Heyy, human, let me take selfie!" Muhahahhaha, that happened twice, the second time, when I was taking his picture from distance, and he ran coming to the camera, waaaa!! So yeah, the most interesting part from today, was a moment when I played with those cattle! And then following by nice views there. I was pretty lucky, as today was a sunny day. I continued walking to New Fisherman's Village (or whatever its name) then I got on the 12 p.m. boat. This time I took the big boat. I was sort of starving, so I bought some packs of potato chips before I jumped to the boat. Belly won, yayy!!
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| Where is my food, human??? |
Oh well, there were only 10 people on the lower deck and 5 people, including me on the upper deck. I could see the captain through the glass window, he was an old man who looked like a retired sailor for me, although I imagined that I was on the pirate's ship!!!(Hahaha the imagination was running wild!) There was only a crew on that boat, an old uncle (not old enough to be called a grandpa, though). With a box in his hand, he was collecting the money from the passengers. I was kind of surprised about how traditional their method was. That uncle asked me, "Where are you going Miss?"
I said, "Wong Shek Pier, so how much is it, uncle?"
He smiled and said, "HK$ 14 only, for a nice girl like you."
"Hahah, owh, thank you!" I laughed and gave him the money.
He then handed me the ticket. With the old way of collecting money, I suddenly felt old, I missed the traditional life, and I liked that feeling.
20 minutes later, our boat docked at the pier. Yes,, it was twice longer than small boat that I took in the morning. I got off and walked to the bus stop. This time I took 96R big bus to Diamond Hill MTR Station. I tried so hard to stay awake, but I was about to puke! Uggghhhhh! I finally fell asleep until suddenly there was someone tapped my shoulder. And because of it, I jumped from my seat, lol! The uncle who woke me up looked shocked, hahaha so did the other passengers. They laughed at me saying, "Wahh,,,,you look exhausted, no wonder u were sleeping like a baby." I shyly smiled and thanked him. I didn't remember to check my watch, as my stomach was singing loudly. As soon as I got off, I ran to the nearest shopping mall, haunting for food!!hahahahah! It Sounds like I was in the middle of the jungle :P
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| Adios, Grass Island! |
Overall, I'd give 2.5 of 5 stars. Wasn't a great hike, but It wasn't a bad one either. If you're planning to go to Saikung, I advise you to hike to Sharp Peak instead. Trust me, it's really worth a climb to reach the peak. 4 stars of 5! Or just simply go for a cliff jumping, or go to any beaches on Saikung! Tap Mun is OK, but it isn't really good as its review. Happy exploring!!!! :D
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